Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study conducted on 307 subjects attending the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) soccer tournament, organized by the Ministry of Youth & Sports and Football Association of Malaysia. Professional soccer clubs from Europe, South America and Asia participated in the sport event. The survey instrument asked subjects questions regarding their gender, age, marital status, monthly income, highest education level, nationality, number of persons in the trip, whether they plan to return in the future and place of residence. Subjects were also asked their motives for attending the event using Wann’s (1999) Sport Fan Motivation Scale. Using Gammon and Robinson’s (2003) classification, subjects in the study were classified into three categories: (1) sport tourists, (2) other tourists and (3) local spectators. The results of this study suggest there are differences in the demographic profiles between the three groups of spectators. Factors such as escape, group-affiliation, entertainment and self-esteem were found to differentiate between sport tourists and local spectators. The results were discussed in light of earlier findings concerning sport tourist motivations. The potential of sport events as tourist attraction in Malaysia were also discussed in this paper.